The FlightGear development team is delighted to announce the v2017.1 release of FlightGear, the free, open-source flight simulator. This new version contains many exciting new features, enhancements and bugfixes. Highlights in this release include: Accurate buildings from OpenStreetMap, voice synthesis of tutorial instructions, improved rendering of the earth from orbit, and a more realistic black-out/red-out system.

Founded in 1997, FlightGear is developed by a worldwide group of volunteers, brought together by a shared ambition to create the most realistic flight simulator possible that is free to use, modify and distribute. FlightGear is used all over the world by desktop flight simulator enthusiasts, for research in universities and for interactive exhibits in museums.

FlightGear features more than 400 aircraft, a worldwide scenery database, a multiplayer environment, detailed sky modelling, a flexible and open aircraft modelling system, varied networking options, multiple display support, a powerful scripting language and an open architecture. Best of all, being open-source, the simulator is owned by the community and everyone is encouraged to contribute.

Performance

Support for SIMD operations added, improving performance on some architectures

AI performance has been improved

Usability

ENBR, Bergen, Norway is the default airport for this release.

Tutorial instructions are now played through the built-in voice synthesis system, making them easier to follow.

Scenery

Accurate buildings generated through OpenStreetMap are now available via Terrasync. Buildings for the UK, Switzerland and large parts of Scandinavia are available already, with more to be generated in the future.

Improved scenery and terrain for the Azores

Canvas System

Canvas performance has been improved.

Remove Canvas is now available

Highlighted new and improved aircraft

J3Cub

Saab 37 Viggen

ASK21

F-16

Bug fixes

Various bug fixes that cause crashes in multiplayer.

See our bugtracker for a list, albeit incomplete, of the bugs fixed in this release.